Spy Hunter: Nowhere to Run
“Tramps like us”
2006. Playstation 2, Xbox.
It doesn’t look this good on the original hardware.
It would be only natural to think that, SpyHunter: Nowhere to Run, was a licensed game of a movie. The game cover features Dwayne ”The Rock” Johnson and his likeness, which also features throughout the game in scenes that include interaction with other characters. Surely these were references to a blockbuster 2006 film which helped to propel the WWE wrestling star, Rock, into Dwayne “The Serious Actor” Johnson. Amazingly though, the Midway game was completedr, while the actual film on which was based was stuck eternally in development hell and never released.
What followed was the rushed development of the rest of the game, now absent of a Hollywood namesake. With the imprimatur of the movie studio and star, without any of the usual limitations which come with studio oversight, the 13 developers and artists charged with making the game made what can only be interpreted as the best “B” game of the noughties -- an indie title without the street cred, but made up for with craftsmanship and illicit contempt for the license they held, with no adult supervision.
From the start the game draws upon memories of adolescent stories exchanged with other violence obsessed males breathlessly describing their ultimate power fantasy, “You drive a super car, that converts into a motorcycle and crash it into a helicopter, and then convert it into a speedboat and land it on a freeway and then you have a rocket launcher, and then you wrestle these guys and throw them on a band-saw and throw them in an oven, and then you’re on this train and you blow these guys away with a shotgun, and then you throw them in into a laser and you save this babe.” And then you, and then you. The game just keeps piling up adolescent visions of carnage and power fantasy until, well, until you can do it all over again.
In a mechanical sense the game, inspired by the 80’s top down vertical scrolling racers with combat elements, is dynamic and involving. What you may first think is going to be the story mode of a car combat game, actually turns into a predominantly third person shooter with occasional vehicle levels. Yes, you will drive a super car, motorcycle and boat, with the ability to shoot machine guns and missiles and defend yourself with oil spills and chaff, but mostly you will be traversing levels in the third person while shooting and stealth killing enemies that would not be out of place in Metal Gear Solid and other games of the time. To take a franchise that has been solely a driving game and turn it into a third-person shooter takes a lot of chutzpah, but it is a decision that is admirable in its boldness.
Well, this is awkward.
Topping it all off is, of course, that you are doing this as, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Technically, the game is sufficient in terms of delivering a melee combat/third person shooter. You will wield punches, grabs and holds and throws as well as shotguns, automatic rifles and pistols. Both the melee combat and shooting are satisfying, especially the outrageously over-powered shotgun. The aggravating issue with the game is that you will often fail levels on the basis of technical errors. More times than I can recall I would be unable to complete a mission due to environmental damage that I had inflicted, destroying the path forward. Or face off against a boss that was for some reason stuck behind a pillar. Or in one instance, punch an end-level boss into the scenery where he could safely mock my efforts to defeat him. I reloaded levels more in this game due to technical errors than I legitimately “died”.
The story is present, with your superiors barking orders and the main character trying to get to the truth of whether an agent has gone rogue. The script is appropriate to the content, and genuinely enjoyable rather than eye-roll inducing.
Vehicle control is also acceptable, with the car being better than the boat and the boat being better than the motorcycle. All vehicles engage in combat, using a blend of offensive and defensive weaponry (such as shooting out oil slicks, as in the original game) or using machine guns and missiles. The vehicles are appropriately weighty, but generally it’s an arcade-racing style, with no skill required.
Even so, the game provides a guttural level of enjoyment with sufficient driving levels and third-person shooting challenges, enough that I was compelled to play the game to the finish, which will take about 8 hours. Being that it is a licensed game, with a major motion picture star and no studio interference, it is an oddity not seen since the NES game, Goonies 2.
- Phil Fogg